Category: History and Genealogy

Saturday I attended the William Walker Memorial Shape Note Singing at Wofford College in Spartanburg. This was a special occasion, marking the bicentennial of Walker’s birth. An entire weekend of events had been planned for the event. In addition to the singing, there would be an evening showing of the documentary Awake My Soul, and … Continue reading William Walker Memorial Singing 2009

According to Travis’ information, the Mayfield Bridge was built in 1991 and is about 25 feet in length. I’m guessing that it hasn’t been kept up since that time, so the tin roof has rusted, making it look older than it is.

Which brings me to the statement the man on the side of the road gave me. The only thing I can think is that he was referring to the actual roadway bridge. Who knows? Then again, maybe Mr. Travis has incorrect information. However, with every reputable reference saying that Campbell’s is “the last”, it’s hard to refute the evidence that this isn’t an authentic structure. Continue reading “Mayfield Road Bridge Update”

According to South Carolina: A Day at a Time, Campbell’s Covered Bridge is “the only covered bridge still standing in South Carolina.” My friend Duckhunter pointed me toward DiscoverSouthCarolina.com which says that Campbell’s “is South Carolina’s only remaining covered bridge.” Several other websites repeat this sentiment. So, imagine my surprise when I found this just … Continue reading The Bridges of Spartanburg County

It was a beautiful day, so I decided to try to find some of these lookout towers I had been researching. I picked three that would be within driving range before it got dark. Since it was a quiet day I left the office at 4:00 and headed south toward my first target. 1. Hobbyville … Continue reading Three Towers in Two Hours

My first lookout tower adventure was actually Saturday afternoon, and I decided to hit a couple of local sites. That morning I had called my good friend Cathy Taylor (no relation) who is a park ranger at Paris Mountain State Park. It turns out that she has the same interest in fire towers, and was … Continue reading Fire Towers – Paris Mountain and Cleveland

This is going to be one of those multi-part posts. I’ve got tons of information on this subject, and it won’t be possible to put it all in one story.

I’ve always been fascinated by lookout towers. Near where I grew up in Laurens County there were two small monadnocks called the Little Knob and Big Knob. The Big Knob had a fire tower on it, and I longed to scale its steps and enjoy the view from the top. Some miles to the north is another prominent, larger monadnock with a fire tower – Paris Mountain. When I was around eight years old I did get to climb up the steps, but never made it into the cab at the top. I distinctly remember the trap door being padlocked when we got to the top.

I had forgotten all about the towers until just this past week. I had been looking for locations to do long-exposure photographs of I-85 for traffic trails when I spotted the Duncan lookout tower on the way home from work on Friday. At the intersection of Danzler and Victor Hill Roads it had a perfect view of the Interstate, so I went to explore. I found the tower in the front yard of a house on Victor Hill Road. The fence around its base now had a dog house within, and it was clear that the tower had not been used in years. I gave up on using this location as a photography platform, but now I wanted to learn more about the towers themselves, so a new quest was born. Continue reading “All Along the Watchtower”

When I’m out on one of my photo explorations there are three books thatI usually have with me – South Carolina: One Day at a Time by Caroline Todd and Sydney Wait, the Delorme Atlas and Gazetteer for South Carolina, and the South Carolina Highway Historical Marker Guide by Judith Andrews. The latter title has … Continue reading Historical Marker Database

My last Saturday before heading back to work after Winter Break, and I decided to do some geocaching and photography in Fairfield County. I had new GPS units to test drive, I had specific locations I wanted to photograph, and I wanted to take some time to swing by my parent’s house. I had ambitious goals for what I wanted to see and do, perhaps too ambitious. It turned out to be a day of mixed results – delight and frustration, discovery and missed opportunities. Continue reading “From Lake Fairfield to Fairfield County”

Saturday night was our annual Taylor Family Christmas gathering. Several were not able to make it this year, so we only had 3/4 of our family present. Even so there were still 28 of us present. This year Mom made a big pot of “grandma soup” and Dad bought some barbecue. Not exactly standard Christmas … Continue reading Family Gatherings and Family Bibles

Over the weekend I signed up for a free two-week trial of Ancestry.com. I guess I fell prey to their recent marketing campaign, which shows users discovering new things about their families as “leaves” appear on their family tree. I had already amassed quite a bit of data on our family, so I was curious to see if I could add to my list.

It has been several years since I’ve done any serious research on our family’s history. Even then I’ve been more of a collector than actual researcher, depending upon the prior research of several cousins and some nice folks that I’ve met online, such as Dan Ellenburg in Pittsburg, with his excellent website on the Ellenberg family. By using several sources I’ve found some conflicting data, and have had to do some verification before merging various data sets. I figured that would also be the case with Ancestry.com, and I was certainly right. Continue reading “A Question of Ancestry”